When making a cake the most common mixing method too use is the creaming method, also know as the conventional method. This method produces the lightest cakes and involves creaming the butter or solid shortening and crystalline sugar together. When creaming the butter and sugar together, you are using the sugar to aerate the butter and fill it with bubbles that can capture the gasses released by your baking powder or soda. The more fine bubbles you have in your batter, the lighter in texture your cakes will be and the finer the crumb. This is true for your muffins as well. Creaming the butter also makes your cookies light and crisp instead of hard and dense. Now this sounds like a simple process but there are some simple tips that will produce the best results.

Tips1. The butter needs to be at room temperature. That means you need to be organized and have it out of the fridge for about 30 minutes before you use it. If you are not organized, a tip that works well is to microwave the stick of butter for 5-10 seconds. You want the butter to be soft enough that when touched it will leave an imprint in the butter. If the butter is too soft it will cause the final product to be dense when baked.

2. How long to beat the butter and sugar and at what speed. If your butter is the correct temperature and you have a stand mixer like a Kitchen Aid mixer, chop up the butter into hunks then place the butter into the bowl. Beat the butter alone for 10 seconds with the paddle attachment to break up the butter. Next gradually add the sugar in a steady stream as the mixer is running on a medium speed around 3# or 4#. If you have a hand mixer you will need to beat at a higher speed but the instructions are the same. After all the sugar is added beat for 1 minute at a medium speed (3# - 4#) on your Kitchen Aid. Stop your mixer and scrap down the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure everything is incorporated. Start your mixer again at a medium speed and beat for another minute. Total beating is 2-3 minutes at a medium speed. With a hand mixer use a higher speed and beat for 5 minutes, scraping down the bowl half way thru the process. Beating too little or at a high speed will effect the density of your final product because it does not aerate the butter properly.

How do you know it's done:-Under-creamed and your mix will feel like wet sand or damp cornmeal. -Over-creamed, and your mix will have the feel of oil and sugar on your fingers, rather like a facial scrub.-Your well-creamed mix will be moist and light and the sugar will be nearly dissolved. You’ll barely feel any grit when you rub it between your fingers.

Using whole grain flour is more difficult to get a light cake because the whole grain has the germ (oil) and the bran. Mastering this simple technique ensures that even when your cake or muffin is 100% whole grain it will be light and tender.

There are many reasons to swap out white sugar for alternative sweeteners when baking. Sweeteners like molasses, maple syrup, honey, and coconut sugar are all great options. Unfortunately, sugar doesn’t just add sweetness to a recipe. It also leavens, or adds air to baked goods, helps with browning, and adds chewiness and crispness. Sugar also, draws moisture from the air into your baked goods, which helps keep them fresh longer. Baking is more of a science than an art. Options available HoneyPros Honey is a flavor powerhouse. Not only is it rich, intense, and syrupy-sweet, the different types of honey are endless. From mild clover to dark, deep buckwheat, you’ve got options.Cons You can’t use honey in any recipe that requires creaming (the process of beating together softened butter and sugar). Granulated sugar crystals contain sharp edges that slice through the butter, creating air pockets that expand when heated, contributing to a lofty, risen pastry. Honey doesn’t create those air pockets, and it results in a denser baked good. It makes a softer product, but dries out quicker than baked goods made with sugar. It’s also more expensive than refined white sugar.Honey is best used in Soft, moist cakes like coffee cakes, and quick breads like muffins. It's also great in puddings, ice creams.Maple SyrupPros Maple syrup has a beautifully thick consistency and an earthy sweetness.Cons Like honey, maple doesn’t “cream” into a recipe the way granulated sugar does. It’s also expensive.Tips Maple syrup is sweeter than sugar, which means you can use less. Use maple in recipes that don’t require a creaming step, and try combining it with other sweeteners, like barley malt syrup or molasses. You can also find evaporated maple syrup, which comes in golden-brown granules and has a texture similar to muscovado sugar. Maple sugar can be substituted 1:1 for refined sugar.Barley Malt Syrup and MolassesPros Barley malt syrup is made by sprouting, drying, then roasting barley grains, while molasses is produced by boiling juice extracted from sugarcane or, less commonly, beets. Both barley malt syrup and molasses are intensely flavored and super rich—they can add a deep, satisfying note to baked goods and pastries. Molasses is also very acidic, which makes for light and airy cakes when combined with baking soda.Cons Some may find the flavor of molasses and barley malt syrup too intense. It can bully other, more subtle flavors into submission.Best For Ginger breads, cookies, additions to other sweetenersTips Combining barley malt and molasses with another ingredient (molasses pairs particularly well with maple) makes for a more palatable baked good.Brown Rice SyrupPros If you’re looking to ditch corn syrup, this is a 1:1 swap. It has a milder, less-intense sweetness than honey.Cons It comes with a pretty steep price tag, and also can’t be used for creaming.Best For Candies, and gooey, fudgy confections like browniesTips This can be used in place of honey or maple syrup, when you want a less-sweet pastry without having to play with the ratios.

Turbinado SugarPros If you’ve ever put a packet of raw sugar in your coffee, you’ve had turbinado sugar. It has a crunchy texture that makes it ideal as a finishing or dusting sugar. It’s similar enough to refined sugar that it can be used in recipes that require creaming. It imparts a flavor similar to brown sugar but with a crispier, more brittle and “cookie-like” texture. It can also be melted down and used, as granulated sugar would, to make candies.Cons The texture of your baked goods won’t be as perfectly smooth as ones made with refined sugar.Best For Finishing and decoration on cookies, short breads and cakes.Tips Add a few minutes to the creaming process when beating together turbinado and butter to allow the ingredients to incorporate completely. Generally speaking, a 1:1 ratio for refined to turbinado sugar works—but be mindful that turbinado is coarser, and can takes up slightly more volume.Muscovado SugarPros Anything that conventional brown sugar can do, this can do, (and arguably better). Muscovado is like, brown sugar. It’s less intense than molasses, but it has that same deep, almost-smoky flavor. It also aids in browning.Cons Muscovado sugar is more expensive than regular brown sugar, and because it’s less refined, bakers may find a few small, hard nubbins of not-fully-processed sugar.Best For Cookies, fudge, brownies, frostingsTips Use it anywhere you’d use brown sugar in a recipe. Be mindful that baked goods will brown quicker, and could falsely appear done before they’re finished baking.

FruitPros Fruit is naturally packed with sugars, and it adds both sweetness and flavor. There’s also that whole “good-for-you-fiber” thing. You can either add it as a whole, fresh fruit (like puréed apple or cooked apple sauce, mashed banana, or pineapple chunks) or as juice (like apple, cranberry, or grape).Cons Fruit juice will alter the texture of your baked goods, making for an extra wet batter. This is one instance where you definitely can’t swap 1 cup of granulated sugar for 1 cup of juice.Best For Quick breads and cakesTips Because fruit adds such a distinctive flavor to pastries, use it only when it will complement the other ingredients. For example: A carrot cake can benefit from crushed pineapple and/or apple juice. Although you’ll miss out on the leavening that happens when you cream butter and refined sugar. a good tip is beating together butter and dates—it makes for a super creamy consistency.

Coconut SugarPros Made from the processed staff of coconut blossoms (not actual coconuts) coconut sugar has a low glycemic index (a glycemic index quantifies how quickly and dramatically a food raises blood’s glucose levels). Well, at 35, it’s at least lower than that of refined sugar at 58. It doesn’t taste like coconut, which makes it very versatile (and is great if you hate coconut). It’s excellent in candies.Cons Coconut sugar has a softer texture than refined sugar, which means that, despite its similar appearance, the granules don’t perforate butter as well. This results in denser pastries. It can also make for baked goods with a dry texture.Best For Cookies, shortbreads, candies, and frostingsTips Compensate for a dry texture with extra fat or moist ingredients, like mashed banana or apple sauce. If melting coconut sugar for candy, be aware that the burning point is about 10 degrees lower than that of white sugar. And when it burns, Sever warns, it smells really, really bad.Sorghum Syrup Made from sorghum (a grass), this sweetener is similar to molasses and barley malt syrup in both texture and flavor.ChocolateBittersweet chocolate may be used to flavor desserts since it already contains sugar. Simple desserts like custards and puddings work best, because they’re not reliant on sweeteners for leavening and other chemical reactions. Agave Made from the same plant that produces tequila, agave nectar has a low glycemic index, but is high in fructose (like refined sugar).